Examples of My Professional Work
Presentations and Seminars:
Orta, San Giulio - May 2008.
Plenary Speaker at the Journal of Analytical Psychology’s Annual Conference.
Conference theme: ‘Tradition and Creativity: Reframing Analysis in a Changing World’. Paper title: A Perspective on the Patterns of Loss, Lack, Disappointment and Shame Encountered in the Treatment of Six Women With Severe and Chronic Anorexia Nervosa. (Note: Analytical Psychology is the name given to Jungian Analysis outside Australia).
Sydney – December 2019.
As part of The InsideoutInstitute’s online program ‘The Essentials: Training Clinicians in Eating Disorders’ I presented the section on ‘The Key Principles of Psychotherapy’.
The InsideoutInstitute is Australia’s national eating disorder research and clinical excellence institute and I had presented similar material as part of an earlier online program which was run by the Institute’s predecessor’s (The Centre for Eating and Dieting Disorders’) in 2012. See https://insideoutinstitute.org.au/resource-library/the-essentials-training-clinicians-in-eating-disorders
New York – July 2020
Clinical Seminar (run twice with groups restricted to 8 participants).
Seminar title: ‘Working with Countertransference to Engage with People with Severe and Chronic Shame and Self-Hatred’.
These seminars came about through a colleague at New York University who circulated a flyer on my work to her clinical contacts. I had planned to offer a Saturday seminar to a small number of experienced clinicians but it was so oversubscribed that I offered the same seminar on the Sunday. In the two seminars which emerged I drew on my experience of working with people with severe and chronic shame and relentless self-hatred to help participants use their countertransference responses to imagine what it might be like to be a patient like this. My experience is that, while these imaginings can only ever be imaginings, they can be of great help with shaping what we say to our patients and when we remain silent, especially in the darkest, most stuck places.
Attendees were invited to read my two 2016 papers and bring clinical cases and countertransference reactions they struggled with. The majority of the seminar comprised working with these cases and the feedback from attendees was very positive indeed. As a result, I am continuing to explore this approach to teaching and supervision.
Internationally 2020 – ongoing:
As a faculty member of the Centre for Applied Jungian Studies I teach an annual seminar as part of the Centre’s rolling 12 month ‘Jungian and post-Jungian Clinical Concepts’ course. These seminars are conducted on-line and draw a large and enthusiastic international audience. I present on the topic: ‘Psychological Complexes and the Early Relational Origins of the Inner Landscape’.
Editorial Role and Publications
Since 2009 – I have been a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Analytical Psychology, representing Australasia and Africa (see: www.thesap.org.uk/journal-of-analytical-psychology).
2016 - Working with chronic and relentless self-hatred and existential shame: a clinical study and reflections - Part 1 of 2. 61, 1.
This paper developed out of a presentation I gave at the Journal of Analytical Psychology’s XIIth Conference in Berlin in 2014 on ‘The Varieties of Jungian Clinical Experience: Complex, Identity, Intersubjectivity’. (See https://thejap.org/berlin-videos for a thirty-minute video and a nine-minute summary video of this paper). My paper was jointly awarded the Journal’s 2016 Michael Fordham prize for outstanding clinical paper of the year (https://www.thejap.org/index.php/the-michael-fordham-prize).
Also, this paper and 3 of my other papers were translated and appeared in the German Journal: Analytische Psychologie Zeitschrift für Psychotherapie und Psychoanalyse (see Publications for details).